Frontline Heroes Deserve Contracts, Not Lip Service

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Liberals said the Pallister Government must immediately act and settle contracts with frontline workers who have been been working with expired contracts for years.

Manitoba Nurses Union's contract has been expired for over three years, since March 31, 2017.

According to MGEU, contracts have also expired for community support, health care support services, private personal care homes, St. Amant, and technical professional paramedical.

In Ontario, the PC government has boosted wages.

"The Pallister Government is on one hand acknowledging frontline workers as heroes, but on the other, letting their collective agreements expire for years," said Dougald Lamont, Manitoba Liberal Leader and MLA for St. Boniface. "If the government is promising more for health care, it needs to start with people who are now working even harder without a contract."

The PCs have refused to negotiate a fair contract with various unions that would properly set out job security and a fair wage for high risk work. Instead, the Pallister Government has gone in the opposite direction with legislation that further stalls the bargaining process. Bill 9, The Public Services Sustainability Act, is a bill that undermines public service workers and the importance of negotiating a fair contract.

Manitoba Liberals said the practice of letting unions work without a contract has been done under both the PC and NDP Government, and is a complete abdication of the government's core responsibility.

"While frontline workers continue to help flatten the curve and save lives, the Pallister Government is missing in action and refuses to give workers the support they deserve," said Lamont.